Mumbai: Accused in multiple cases 'hangs himself' in lockup

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An accused, arrested by the Borivali police, died allegedly by suicide by hanging himself in the Borivali lockup this morning, police sources told this reporter.

The accused who died by suicide has been identified as Deepak Jadhav (28). According to police sources, Jadhav was wanted in case Cr no 1307/2022 registered with Borivali police station under sections 326, 279, 323, 504, and 506.

Since he was in Yerwada jail in another case, when the Borivali police came to know, they took custody of him and arrested him in their case on 26 July. He was produced before the court and remanded in police custody till 28 July.

The Borivali police kept him in the Borivali General lockup on 27 July night, and today morning he committed suicide by hanging using a thread near the door of the third cell, according to police. He was rushed to Shatabdi Hospital, where the doctor checked and declared him dead.

Senior police officials from the north region, along with the crime branch team, were present on the spot.

In a separate incident, in July 2022, a man has been booked for allegedly attempting suicide in the lock-up of Badlapur police station in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said then. The 29-year-old man was held for offenses including house trespass and was lodged in the police lock-up when he tried to end his life some hours later by using a bedsheet given to inmates, he said. "He was saved by policemen on duty. We have charged him under section 309 (attempt to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code," the Badlapur police station official had said.

In another case, in January 2022, an undertrial prisoner hanged himself at Arthur Road jail, police sources had said. Mohammad Hameed Mohammad Iqbal Sheikh, 36, faced three cases of mobile theft. He was in Mumbai Central prison for two months before his death. The sources said that Sheikh died allegedly by suicide in a bathroom around 5 am.

"Since the bathrooms at the jail do not have locks, he had kept the tap open giving others the impression that he was taking a bath. When he didn't come out for a long time, fellow inmates pushed the door to find him hanging by a bedsheet," police sources had told Mid-day.